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Gavin Harding | |
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Mayor of Selby | |
In office 2015–2016 | |
Preceded by | Rosie Corrigan |
Succeeded by | Steve Shaw-Wright |
Selby Town Councillor for North Ward | |
Assumed office 2011 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Gavin Nigel Xavier Harding 18 March 1974 Selby,West Riding of Yorkshire |
Political party | Labour |
Education | Brayton High School |
Alma mater | Selby College |
Gavin Nigel Xavier Harding MBE (born 18 March 1974) is a British politician and academic who was mayor of Selby,North Yorkshire,England. He was the first person in the United Kingdom to become mayor while being formally diagnosed as having a learning disability. [1]
Harding grew up in Selby,and studied at Brayton High School and Selby College. He is a Labour councillor on Selby Town Council having lived in Selby most of his life representing Selby North ward. Harding has now been elected for his 3rd term as a councillor. He founded a self-advocacy group Voices for People and works for NHS England as a senior learning disability advisor.
Harding served as deputy mayor of Selby in 2014 before being appointed mayor the following year. [1] In 2014,he was awarded an MBE. [2] He has been part of a committee looking into the progress of Winterbourne View,a private hospital condemned for its abuse of people with learning difficulties. [3]
In 2019 Harding was included in the Shaw Trust "Power 100" list of the most influential disabled people for that year. [4]